SC slams govt: You criticize courts for pending cases, but you don't even file an affidavit

New Delhi, Aug 12: Coming down heavily on the Centre for not filing a counter-affidavit in a case relating to road accidents, the Supreme Court on Friday imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on the Union Transport ministry.

Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, heading the Bench, observed, "You (the Union government) are the biggest litigant and you choose to criticise the courts for not doing their work."

The court sought to know why the Centre had not filed a counter-affidavit in the case for over an year. "Is this a Panchayat here", the CJI asked the Attorney General. "Why has the counter-affidavit not been filed for more than an year now".

The AG assured the court that the Centre would file the counter-affidavit in three weeks' time.

The Supreme Court is hearing a public interest litigation petition regarding road accidents. The PIL sought guidelines on the matter. The court had directed the Union government to file a counter-affidavit.

When the matter came up, however, the counter-affidavit had not been filed, which led to the Supreme Court's outburst.